I am not sure about how being the national sport can make cricket a puppetry sport in the hands of the government...I feel, Cricket is no more a just a game in our country (and I am not saying religion either)....but it has now become an industry with both private and public stakeholders...and anyways BCCI is a government in itself...its turned the ICC unipolar...so, my vote is for a YES, why not?

Hockey, Schmockey! Tell that to a young 4th Grader gawking breathlessly at Tendulkar hitting a Six! You don't need to MAKE Cricket the National Sport of India! It already is! You cannot make something which it already is! :-)

Sachin ke liye banta hai! No sport or country can get as great an ambassador as him.
and anyways, do people want to justify 'hockey' by all those big talks of improving facilities, investing money in coaching etc? comeon.... lets face it.. every "gully ka baccha" is familiar with the blade and the leather. how many of you have ever played hockey? and cricket? that should answer it.
We love it, we excel at it, we are passionate about it.. the country unites under cricket.
And this comes from a very ardent Nadal and Tennis fan. Though I'd like India to excel in tennis, soccer,F1, hockey and elsewhere, cricket shall remain the biggest. And hence, no qualms about it being the National Sport. Anyone who has not read the trivia books would guess cricket anyways.

oh...friends i forgot to include one point
...film industry in india is one of the greatest revenue generator ...."most popular...in india when it comes to generating money, if we leave emotions apart... "
PS: please ignore the typo in the previous comment

i have a simple question for all my learned friends who have voted for the motion ....
"munnni badnam huyee" or so to speak "sheila ki jawani" are the most "popular" songs these days, everybody know them by heart, sing them when happy and sometimes it "defines passion and emotion". "many people around the world identifies/associates" bollywood song & dance "to india"; rather exclusively indian....SHOULD EITHER OF THEM BE MADE INTO NATIONAL ANTHEM?
Lets take the example of Rajni Kant who is one of the most popular superstar the world has ever seen. He has in a way single defined cinema in India. SHALL WE REPLACE MAHATMA GANDHI WITH RAJANIKANT???
IS POPULARITY THE ONLY CRITERIA IN FIXING THE "NATIONAL" ???

but ranu roychoudhuri national thing is something which should be known to evryone,,which should be prowd entity of us>>>i think cricket is the only game that brought us so many fame around the world after winning world cup>>>what u say ???????

Though cricket is the most popular game in India today, and definitely qualifies for being adjudged as the National Sport, but the same should be done with a rider....the amount of money pumped into Indian Cricket (remuneration of cricketers, advertisement budgets, etc) is far more than desirable, and the governance should do something to put in necessary checks & controls to align it to a realistic level...thus diverting the additional funds towards 'real time' developmental projects for rural & underprivileged segments of our country...